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Palin’s Perils

Add Mitt Romney’s voice to those expressing at least a modicum of dissatisfaction about the rollout of Gov. Sarah Palin in her first month as the Republican vice-presidential nominee. He expressed confidence that Ms. Palin would be able to “hold her own” in the debate this Thursday night against the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr.

But on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Mr. Romney — while not criticizing her TV interviews as others have for their substance or lack thereof — seemed to blame some of her stumbles on the McCain campaign staff. Asked by Andrea Mitchell whether he agreed with some conservatives’ calls for Ms. Palin to drop off the ticket, Mr. Romney said he concurred with conservative writer Kathryn Jean Lopez of the National Review:

“I think Kathryn Lopez had it right,” he said. “Holding Sarah Palin to just three interviews and microscopically focusing on each interview I think has been a mistake. I think they’d be a lot wiser to let Sarah Palin be Sarah Palin. Let her talk to the media, let her talk to people.
“Look, she wasn’t selected by John McCain because she’s an expert in foreign policy,” he added. “John McCain’s the expert in foreign policy … She’s a person who identifies with people with homes across America.”

Still, the bad reviews, the parodies on shows like “Saturday Night Live” and commentary about Ms. Palin’s readiness to be vice president, let alone president, kept pouring in over the weekend. At Newsweek, Fareed Zakaria’s headline was “Palin is Ready? Please.”

He wrote: “Palin has been given a set of talking points by campaign advisers, simple ideological mantras that she repeats and repeats as long as she can. (“We mustn’t blink.”) But if forced off those rehearsed lines, what she has to say is often, quite frankly, gibberish.”

And, as Ms. Mitchell noted this morning, The Times’s David Brooks called her candidacy “embarrassing.”

Ouch.

Senator McCain himself confronted a Palin moment — pretty much akin to one of those Biden moments Mr. Obama has had to deal with — when the Republican nominee was interviewed on ABC’s “This Week” with George Stephanoupolos. Mr. McCain walked back what Ms. Palin — in a rare impromptu moment in Philadelphia — said about going into Pakistan, along the same veins that Mr. McCain had just chastised Mr. Obama about in their Friday night debate:

Mr. Stephanopoulos: She says, ”If that’s what we have to do stop the terrorists from coming any further in, absolutely, we should.”

Mr. McCain: She would not — she shares my view that we will do whatever is necessary. The problem is, you don’t announce it. You don’t — you don’t say to the Pakistanis, “We’re coming in unilaterally and carry out operations.” Teddy Roosevelt, speak softly but carry a big stick. She shares my view on that. That’s just — that’s fundamentals of knowledge and maturity and judgment.
…
Mr. Stephanopoulos: So she shouldn’t have done it?
…
Mr. McCain: This business of, in all due respect, people going around and — with sticking a microphone while conversations are being held, and then all of a sudden that’s — that’s a person’s position, this is a free country, but I don’t think most Americans think that that’s a definitive policy statement made by Governor Palin. And I would hope you wouldn’t, either.

Well, granted, the senator is far more accustomed to having a microphone in his face; in fact, he’s often taken advantage of its availability, although not recently.

Yet others have the sense that he would be better-served to tutor her in his facility with the media glare. They tend to believe that the McCain-Palin ticket would benefit from giving Ms. Palin almost a karaoke microphone, and that it’s been a mistake — as Mr. Romney suggested today — to keep her so bottled up that she can’t become more accustomed to the old-style, free-wheeling straight-talk. So what if she’s not a foreign policy wonk?, some ask.

In a column in The Times today, William Kristol talked about Mr. McCain’s own concerns about Governor Palin’s recent missteps, or perceived problems:

With respect to his campaign, McCain needs to liberate his running mate from the former Bush aides brought in to handle her — aides who seem to have succeeded in importing to the Palin campaign the trademark defensive crouch of the Bush White House. McCain picked Sarah Palin in part because she’s a talented politician and communicator. He needs to free her to use her political talents and to communicate in her own voice.

I’m told McCain recently expressed unhappiness with his staff’s handling of Palin. On Sunday he dispatched his top aides Steve Schmidt and Rick Davis to join Palin in Philadelphia. They’re supposed to liberate Palin to go on the offensive as a combative conservative in the vice-presidential debate on Thursday.

On the “Today” show this morning, Mr. Romney also talked about how the McCain campaign could use Ms. Palin more effectively. Citing her bad reviews after the broadcasts last week of interviews with Ms. Couric, the host Matt Lauer asked Mr. Romney whether something deeper was going on than just the fact that “the honeymoon was over,” and whether the former presidential candidate wondered if she should drop out of the race.

“And you know she’s not a lifelong politician,” he said. “She’s not the master of words that Joe Biden is. And as a result she’s going to come across like an ordinary citizen, a person of great capacity and that’s what John McCain wanted.”

Mr. Lauer also asked Mr. Romney his take on sentiments uttered earlier by Republican strategist Ed Rollins, who suggested that the McCain campaign’s decision to “put her in storage” — meaning limiting access to her through few media interviews or daily give-and-take — had broken her confidence. (That’s something Christopher Orr wrote about last week, at The New Republic: whether Ms. Palin has been so coached, and so constrained by advisers, that she had lost her own sense of self.)

Mr. Lauer’s question allowed Mr. Romney to offer advice to the McCain campaign for the next and final stage of the campaign:

“I think it’s going to be better for her to be out talking to more reporters and just being herself,” he said. “I think if you have only one or two interviews the focus goes on those and any mistake is going to be amplified dramatically. So let her get out there and be herself. And I think people will say you know, I like what I see. She’s a person who understands the needs of the American people.”

What is the McCain campaign doing about Ms. Palin in preparation for the debate on Thursday? The Wall St. Journal reported today that top aides to the campaign, like Steve Schmidt, will whisk Ms. Palin away to the senator’s home in Sedona, Ariz. for debate prep.

As for anticipating the Thursday night duel between the ever-loquacious, verbose Mr. Biden and Ms. Palin, Mr. Romney said:

“You know I think she’ll be facing in Joe Biden a veritable wall of words … But I think if you looked at her debate performance as the governor of Alaska, you’re going to see a person who can hold her own. She’s a very competent, well-spoken thoughtful individual and I think she can hold her own.

“But there’s nothing like being able to create low expectations and that’s certainly been done for her.”

Right, the problem may be, that those expectations are raining down on more fronts — and perhaps friendlier ones than on the Democratic side — than by just the McCain campaign. And not merely in the traditional parlance of an expectations game.

Idiot giving advice to another Idiot. This explains alot about McCain’s plan. Schmidt and Rove are trying every trick but none working because over the last 8 years, people have become exhausted and cynical about Bush’s government and politics. Its time to send these guys back in time and let us look for bright future.

I have this strange belief that Palin will not do as bad as people think when she debates Biden.

Her interviews were terrible, but debates are a different kind of animal. Interviews are more intense and interviewee specific. Debates focus on two people, and hence, there is a little less focus on a particular individual (i.e., the moderator will have to focus on both candidates).

On c-span, I watched Palin in a debate when she was running for Governor, and she wasn’t bad.

If she does bomb on Thursday, the GOP ticket will definitely be doomed.

Right now McLiar is in Ohio giving a speech. The first thing he said was “we need a President who tells the truth”. The king of Lies then spun a series of tall tales about how he will lower all taxes, fix the economy, give everyone a job and balance the budget. Is there even one person stupid enough to buy these wild claims? Every time this little angry man opens his mouth, a lie pops out. He has lied so much that I am not even sure he was a POW.

She identifies with people in homes across America? Not my home Mitt. Is that what guys with multiple houses think of as an average American family?

How revealing that comment was. Sarah Palin, even though she could easily be president next year doesn’t need to know a thing about foriegn policy. Her job is to ‘connect’ with people in their homes.

More empty branding and pandering by the GOP. They insult our intelligence by putting an obviously unintelligent person on the stump so that we can feel comfortable with them. “Golly, shucks, she’s as dumb as I am.” Thanks for saying what you really think Mitt.

As for Country First. The GOP knows full well that Sarah Palin is dangerously unqualified to be president. Many lives could be at stake with such atrocious leadership. Yet they’ll put her in as VP with a 72 year old cancer survivor in order to pander for votes while telling us they’re about Country First.

Yes, Mittens is right: by all means, let Palin out there to be herself. Her views are so far out of the mainstream, her intellectual capacity is so limited, and her breadth of understanding of world affairs is so narrow, that the only possible result of her speaking her mind unscripted will be McCain sinking even further in the polls. When even the GOP’s own are worried about her, it is a good sign for the people who really do put “country first.” It is the beginning of the end of the Angry Old Man and his clueless side-kick.

I’m starting to feel sorry for Palin, but then again, if you can’t stand-up for yourself during the election,speak clearly about your own positions and convictions, then there is no way for you to be qualified to be the VP and potentially be the president.

I think McCain made a grave mistake selecting Palin, and compounded that mistake by making her off-limits to the press and questions. I think her Republician handlers have as much to blame as she does. They are afraid to just cut her loose.

I think she will cut loose from her handlers during the debate, which is why I think she will also do OK in the debate.

The McCain campaign needs to analyze the reasons why voters made Sarah Palin the governor of Alasksa. If that exercise gives them any insights they should use their conclusions to assist her in her current interview performances. There is not a problem with her saying she is learning just as the other three candidates on the two tickets have had to do.

“Right, the problem may be, that those expectations are raining down on more fronts — and perhaps friendlier ones than on the Democratic side — than by just the McCain campaign. And not merely in the traditional parlance of an expectations game.”

Kate tries hard to spin the “lower expectations” against Biden as not being good this time, when usually the spin is its a good thing…Amusing and laffable

Sarah Palin was chosen for one purpose. To fool Christians into supporting an angry athiest. A hipocrite who attends a Baptist Church but refuses Baptism and says he is not Born Again. A man who denounced Christian leaders as “crazy agents of hate”. McBush chose a woman he thought was a mainstream Christian to pander to the voters he previously threw away. But in ignorance McBush chose a women who attends a wacky church where it is preached that Jews are the cause of terrorism and that Alaska is a Divine refuge chosen by God in a soon coming world destruction.
Sorry but these are not things we mainstream Christians believe.

The problem isn’t that Palin isn’t being herself. The problem is that she clearly has little to no understanding of or curiosity about oreign or domestic policy. I don’t think her becoming more relaxed or seeming like an ordinary citizen will alter that.

The truth is, choosing Sarah Palin was the quintessential example of John McCain’s shoot-from-the-hip style of rushing to judgement rather than carefully making informed decisions based on the facts. That is exactly what we do not need in a President, especially at this particularly volatile point in history.

She will get he sympathy vote and then all of these people will get what they deserve. In a few years they will all be out of their homes with no job or little pay. Their heads will be spinning, how did this happen? Duh, not voting with your head on tangible issues. That’s how.

Kristol has gone to plan D with Palin.
These people who think that Palin needs to be herself are hoping that there is something more there.
There isn’t.
That is all there is. She is a campaign present wrapped in a pretty bow with nothing inside.
That is why even her own people won’t let her speak to anyone.
Why doesn’t Kristol interview her if he wants to prove a point? Well the RNC won’t let that happen.
The Campaign is trying to bolster her with a crash course on how to act like a president in 40 days.
This isn’ t the real Sarah Palin. It is Sarah Palin on steroids.

If you thought Saturday Night Live was funny, Thursday Night Live is going to be hilarious.

My house is very close to a Bank (WAMU), I sometimes witness the workers go in and out of their daily business and now that they are having financial crises i think i am qualified to help fix their books as they are my neighbor ….Sarah Palin pick as a VP candidates tells one more about McCain’s judgment than her…anyone who can argue on Camera that coming from Alaska qualified her as an expert on foreign policy because Alaska is close to Russia is sick or ignorant of reality.

I think that Palin’s lack of intelligence – or experience or whatever – is obscuring the other problem with her. She is an arch conservative, religious radical – and that’s just what we KNOW about her!

I happen to agree with this. Palin needs to work more freely with the press, have more access to people in general then she would be less of a target for people who no better imaginations than to take what she says and turn it into comedy banter on Saturday night.

And other people who have no deeper intellect than to use these skits as a barometer for the character of one individual.

“That’s something Christopher Orr wrote about last week, at The New Republic: whether Ms. Palin has been so coached, and so constrained by advisers, that she had lost her own sense of self.)”

Yet another time an agitating left winger’s opinion on a R is consdiered as legit analysis. and boy does Orr delve deep into his own self to come across as intelligent sounding? Inr eality, its just poppy cock.

President Obama drew criticism on Thursday when he said, “we don’t have a strategy yet,” for military action against ISIS in Syria. Lawmakers will weigh in on Mr. Obama’s comments on the Sunday shows.Read more…